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Ankle sprain getting worse not better

Hi,

Hopefully you can provide a bit of advice and or information about my ankle injury. I sprained my ankle playing football about 1 year ago when my foot was kicked inwards while blocking a strike (it has been sprained once before from falling off a kerb). I would say that this was a fairly bad sprain - I was in considerable pain, there was a lot of swelling and could not really walk on it. It was X-rayed and found not to be broken, and I was sent home with the usual treatment plan, which I followed.

After a couple of months, it seemed to have recovered well so I went back to excercising, but found that my ankle was a bit weak (I was going over it sometimes), so I used an ankle stabiliser. At first this was fine and I went back to football after about 5-6 months. After a few more months, it started to get gradually more and more painful and I stopped playing football again and gave it a full rest for several weeks to see if this would help. It hasn't and my ankle is still painful. It also seems to have become weaker than it ever was and I go over it all the time, usually just from walking.

Any information on why this has happened and advice you can give is much appreciated.

Re: Ankle sprain getting worse not better

Sounds like you had a total rupture of the ligaments. You should get in to the physio and perhaps a repeat x-ray or MRI to assess the current status. It likely the residual instability is causing the issues and you need a specific stability program to sort things out. Unfortunately rest and a support are not enough as a torn ligament means a tear of the wires that tell your brain where you foot it (and therefore when to turn muscles on to stop you going over on the ankle). Hence without rehabilitating that essential pathway you'll just keep going over more and more.

Aussie trained Physiotherapist living and working in London, UK.
Chartered Physiotherapist & Member of the CSP
Member of Physio First (Chartered Physio's in Private Practice)
Member Australian Physiotherapy Association
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Re: Ankle sprain getting worse not better

Thanks Bob,

I have an appointment next week so hopefully I'll get it sorted eventually and I'm glad to hear there's a physio plan that can help - it's good to go armed with a bit of info.

I thought at the time that it seemed worse than "the mild sprain" they told me it was and felt I was fobbed off a bit - it certainly felt and looked a lot worse than when I sprained it before but I didn't want to seem pathetic.